The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are said to be remaining focused on their search for their daughter amid reports of a series of possible sightings in Malta.

Reports said a girl matching the four-year-old’s description had been sighted in the capital Valletta at the weekend.

But a spokeswoman for parents Gerry and Kate McCann said they are not giving credence to the claims at this stage and are focusing on events to boost awareness of her disappearance.

The reports follow possible sightings across Europe and as far away as north Africa, but it is the first time that claims have been made public of a possible sighting on the Mediterranean island.

Meanwhile, Ray Roberts, from Anglesey, North Wales, said he saw a girl in Sliema wearing what he said was a jet black wig being told: “Get up little girl” by an Arab-looking man.

A man in his 40s and a younger woman then ran off with the girl, he said.

“It was obviously not his first language so it seemed odd that he had to speak to her in English,” he said. “As a father, their reaction did not seem natural.”

He added: “The more I think about what I saw the more convinced I become that it may well have been Maddie. The oddness of it all played out in my mind until I got home then I realised I had to do something.”

The possible sightings come as Mr and Mrs McCann prepare for a balloon release to mark the 50th day since Madeleine’s disappearance.

Madeleine was snatched from her bed in her parents’ holiday flat in the village of Praia Da Luz on the Algarve on May 3.